The Dawn Wars
by YoungHellsta
Summary: War is coming. Who will you fight for? Loyalties divided, families crossed against each other. A New Lunar Republic vs Solar Empire fanfic. Inspired by the popular anthem of the New Lunar Republic, For The New Lunar Republic, by I Am Not A Clever Pony. Currently accepting OC's. Rated T for explicit language.
1. Chapter 1

**The Dawn Wars**

 _***Like all other Fanfiction authors, I do not own anything affiliated with My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Hasbro, or anything else but the OC's used in this story***_

 **Chapter 1**

 _1700 Hours,_

 _September 7, 0 BNM (Before Nightmare Moon)_

 _Canterlot Castle, Central Equestria._

 _(Background Info)_

 _A/N This is the AU of Equesteria where there are Humans instead of Ponies, Zebras, etc. The humans still have the powers of their equine counterparts,as in, the Royal Sisters would be great with weapons, and they would have basic flight training for fighter jets as well as basic magic, which no one else would have. A would-be Pegasus would be a pilot, and a would-be Unicorn would be either a weapons specialist, or a sniper. The Draconequi are still the same creatures._

Equestria had fighting the Discordian Wars for the last 50 years, over which the Draconequi offered peace treaties, then broke them less than a year after each one. Finally, after the rise of Discord as their king, the Draconequi made their final push, nearly defeating Equestria.

Then, the Royal Sisters discovered the Elements of Harmony well after the scientists of Equestria had developed automatic guns (they had the same tech as 1890,at the start of the Discordian Wars, and over time developed what took America until WWII to develop), and as a distraction, the Final Battle of Canterlot allowed the Sisters to confront Discord head on. After the defeat of Discord, the Draconequi still caused chaos all over Equestria and beyond.

Celestia sent her armies to the places that the Draconequi still ravaged, and took them over, forming the Solar Empire. The countries that were taken over by the Draconequi were blinded by thankfulness to Equesteria, they didn't realize that Equestria had took them over.

After a few days under Equesteria's rule, however, the countries would revolt. But each time, the massive armies and their extremely advanced weaponry would put down each revolt. Luna did not approve of the taking over each country, but was talked down by Celestia each time. Eventually, Celestia declared herself Empress of the Known World, and made herself the supreme power, as nopony else would have power of anything more than a town, and even then, the mayors had very little power.

This brings us to the present, into a ball celebrating the 5 year anniversary of the forming of the Solar Empire, and it is also the 4 year anniversary of the end of Celestia's last conquest, in which she had taken over the last country that was free.

Now to the Hero's Ball, the equivalent to the Grand Galloping Gala. Shadow and his squad-mates of the now-small Lunar Corps, Luna's personal soldiers that could not be commanded by Celestia, as the two Sisters agreed to when they first formed the Equestrian Military, and made a magical pact, just as effective as a Pinkie Promise, but before Pinkie was born, that is physically impossible to break.

It also made loopholes impossible as well, as in, Celestia couldn't put the Lunar Corps under command of her officers, which would ultimately put them under her command. Luna couldn't take command the Solar Legions either.

Back to Shadow and the Lunar Corps, they were hanging out in a back section of the ball room that they had designated as theirs. They chatted, and some of the soldiers danced with their special someone. Others talked of news across the Empire.

The feared soldiers of the Solar Empire had prevented the growth of the Lunar Corps, the polite, more nice soldiers that hardly ever saw any action. This gave them more training and bonding time, where as most Solar Legion soldiers would argue easily, and weren't trained very well. If you were to join a Solar Legion, chances are that you would be out through basic training, told the laws that citizens were supposed to obey, and thrown (almost literally) into the field.

If you joined the Lunar Corps, chances are you would likely have over a year of training before any calls for the Lunar Corps would come up, and even then, you would be mentored by a senior soldier, likely a veteran of the Discordian Wars.

Honestly, the Lunar Corps could give the Solar Legions a run for their money, with advantage over them because the Lunar Corps were thoroughly trained, closely bonded, and extremely disciplined, but, the Solar Legions had way more soldiers that were hardly trained or disciplined.

Lately, though, the Solar Legions' soldiers were more corrupt in their place as the police, and were far more resented. Luna was being oppressed a lot more by her sister, her only part in anything anymore was raising the moon.

 _A uthor's Note:_

 _This chapter was mostly developing the back-story, and so that, most aspects don't have to explained later. Now, hopefully I don't have to explain too much, because as seen above, I tend to get carried away when I develop story. Please leave comments and any advice/suggestions_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 _1800 hours,_

 _September 7, 0 BNM_

 _Canterlot Castle, Central Equestria, The Solar Empire_

 _Lunar Corps Briefing Chamber._

 _Princess Luna has called a meeting of the whole Lunar Corps._

At the end of the Ball, the soldiers notice that the moon has flashed with blue light, signaling that they need to report to their barracks for a meeting with Luna. As they all walked out, Celestia took notice of their sudden departure, and whispered something into her General's ear.

Shadow and the rest of the Lunar Corps gather into their barracks. As they gathered, the chatter grew louder, and stopped when Luna stepped onto a box, and let off a magical flare that lit the room up.

"Thank you for all coming. I have an announcement. The Lunar Corps are no longer part of the Solar Empire. We are now the soldiers of the rumored rebellion, and I shall take us to the base from which all orders of this rebellion are issued. The teleport will be direct, and the base has no windows, so that the location of the base can stay secretive. Only I know where the base is." With this, Luna's hands, and the ground around all of the soldiers glow with Luna's blue magic aura. Then with a flash of light, Luna and all of her soldiers disappeared at the same time Celestia and a large group of Solar Empire soldiers burst in, guns blazing, but the teleport had just finished.

 _A/N_

 _As I've said in the previous chapter, I'd love to get suggestions & advice on improving my story. The only comments I will not accept are flames. But otherwise, questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome!_

 _Also, the next few chapters will be from Shadow's POV more._


	3. Rise of The NLR Pt1

**Chapter 3: The Rise of The New Lunar Republic**

 _1800 Hours,_

 _September 7, 0 BNM_

 _New Lunar Republic Secret Base, ?_

 _Luna and the Lunar Corps have just arrived at the secret base of the rebellion against the Solar Empire._

As Shadow looked around, he saw people that had the tribal markings of the Zebranoic Tribes, those with Draconic wings, as well as your everyday Equestrian. The corridors of the base were well-lit, and quite spacious, with many doors with labels, like A-115, Cafeteria A-S, and a few others.

Luna called off several names, four or five at a time. "... Shadow Fire, Lightfoot, Heavy Might and High Ordinance, step forward. Your designation is Alpha-Serria Bravo. Shadow Fire, you are the leader as Lieutenant Captain. Your rooms are in the AS 4 wing, and your assigned cafeteria is 12 B. Here is a map for each of you, showing the locations of your rooms." Luna handed them each a map of the base. On the maps were each person's respective room, with Shadow and Heavy's rooms on one side of the hall, and Lightfoot and High's rooms on the opposite side.

The newly formed squad made their way in to their rooms, and shared information on each other. The four hadn't really had too much of a chance to socialize back in Equestria, and hadn't bonded as much as they had with others.

Shadow shared his past as an OG of the Orange Drive Homiez, a gang based in Manehattan, Heavy and High were brothers, and Lightfoot hadn't given too much about himself. It appeared as if he were going to be the quiet one of the group.

The four each entered their rooms, and Shadow finds that all of his stuff that was supposedly left back in Canterlot was suddenly in his room here. Shadow was ecstatic over all of lost belongings appearing in this base. Among these things were a photo of the Orange Drive Homiez that was taken about 3 months before he became a soldier. A lot can happen in 3 months when you're in a gang, but fortunately, nothing big happened.

Another one of these items was his dad's watch, given to Shadow a week before he died. It was one of the last things his dad gave to him, and Shadow made sure that the punks that did it got a taste of their own medicine, and Shadow had tracked them down and killed them in a drive-by, which led to a war between the ODH and the gang that the punks were in, the Front Page Flya's.

After that, they looked at schedules on the rear of their maps, and they all said that lights out was in two hours. The newly formed Alpha-Serria Bravo perked up as an announcement came over the Base's loudspeaker, "All new arrivals are to report to the auditorium at once. Please check your maps for reference."

 _A/N_

 _Another chapter! Please, favorite and follow if you like the story!_

 _Fun Fact: I made this chapter on Nightmare Night 2016! Have a good day/night where ever and when ever you are!_


	4. Rise of The NLR Pt2

**Chapter 4:**

 **Rise of The New Lunar Republic Part 2**

 _1900 Hours_

 _September 7, 0 BNM_

 _The Lunar Corps, now part of the army of rebels against the Solar Empire, are to report for a de-briefing before lights-out._

Shadow, Lightfoot, Heavy and High all walked to where the auditorium was located, using their maps to help them. Once they had arrived, they found seats together, and chatted amongst themselves for a few minutes before Luna had stood on the stage in the front of the auditorium. After all of the conversations had died down, Luna started her speech, "Good evening, everyone. I thank you all for coming, and I now would like to give you my promised explanation of this situation.

"As you know, the Draconequi and Equesterians fought for many years in the Discordian Wars, and then we defeated Discord, making our first win in a very long time. Celestia, my sister, as you all know, led a liberation of the world from the Draconequi, and she became corrupted with greed, and took the liberated lands for herself.

"These lands, and Equestria itself became known as The Solar Empire, a land where only the Empress had power, and I was forgotten.

"For years, I have ran this base to keep sanctuary the unlawfully prosecuted of the Solar Empire, but now, it will be the military center of the New Lunar Republic!

"Many ages ago, there was a country that thrived on the election of the ruler by the people, and every so often, they would elect a new leader. This civilization's name has been lost, but it was named the Lunar Republic in modern textbooks after the style of government and their devotion to the moon as their way of keeping track of almost everything, from months, as we do today, and when to plant their crops and start preparing for winter. They made up the system of a year, and their names for the months have been lost to time.

"Their downfall was also a mystery, but there are plenty of theories that you may look up in your own time.

"This civilization had many laws and procedures that made it successful, and you will see many of those laws in the ones of this base, but many laws and rules will seem unfair, they are only so because I need this base's location to remain secretive from everybody.

"With that said, all of the rules and laws of this base and the New Lunar Republic are in your rooms," Luna looks over to a nearby clock, which said it was 8:30, then back to the newly formed Alpha-Serria. "You all have a half hour before lights out. I personally suggest that you use this time to get acquainted with your wing of the base. Dismissed."

At their dismissal, the soldiers' chatter picks up, mostly they were discussing what their Princess had just talked to them about. "So, guys, wanna head back to our rooms?" Shadow suggests, "We're likely going to need to make an early start tomorrow, and, frankly, I'd like to go to bed." The others voice their similar opinions.

Shadow led the way back to their rooms, almost not needing his map. The men went into their respective rooms after saying goodnight to each other. Shadow went to his room's bathroom, a small room with a toilet, a sink, and some wiggle room in-between, and brushed his teeth, and got himself ready for bed. Shadow walked over to his bed, and glanced at the digital clock, the time being 8:45. He pressed the button labeled "Alarm", and the clock changed to show the time, 5:00 AM.

Shadow went to his bed, and swapped his Lunar Corps uniform for his pajamas, and lay down under the covers of his bed, and closed his eyes for the last time that day as he slowly fell asleep.

 _A/N:_

 _As always, favorite, follow and comment if you really like the story thus far, and have anything to say, suggest, or ask about the story. See ya next week!_


	5. First Day

**Chapter 5: First Day**

 _500 Hours_

 _8 September, 0 BNM_

 _Alpha-Serria, formerly the Lunar Corps, is waking up to prepare for their first day as New Lunar Republic soldiers. Shadow and Alpha-Serria Bravo report to their assigned cafeteria, 12 B, for breakfast._

Shadow, Lightfoot, Heavy Might, and High Ordinance enter their assigned cafeteria, 12 B, the B standing for Bravo. The team enters, and they walk to the breakfast line, and get a plate of 2 pancakes, scrambled eggs, and an orange each then sit at a vacant table, and start their meals, eating in silence. Shadow looks to his new squad-mates, and thinks of their schedule. They are a special ops squad, like most of Alpha-Serria, and are to report to special training directly after their allotted breakfast time, roughly 1 hour.

The team finishes their breakfast, and starts for the special ops training, in Gym 4. A-S Bravo walks into the Gym, seeing that they are not the first ones there, but not the last ones either. Once all of the teams that were supposed to be present were, Alpha-Serria Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta, the presenter started.

"Alright recruits!" The instructor started her lecture, "I am Marshal Quelled Front, but you will refer to me as Ma'am or Marshal Front, am I clear?" There were mixed replies of "Yes Ma'am," and "Yes Marshal Front!" from the Alpha-Serria squads assembled. Quelled Front smiled, and continued. "Good to hear. Now today, we will be getting acquainted with the training course that you will all use everyday for the next month of your lives. Follow me." As the ponies got up, they said, "Yes Marshal!"

Front smiled a bit as she walked towards a door inside the gym, and held a large lobby-like room, that had five doors. Four of them were on the wall opposite of the entrance the recruits came through now, and had the squad names on them, the other was on the left of the room.

As soon as everybody had entered the room, Quelled Front spoke up again, "Alright, in these rooms you'll find weapons and ammunition. Each of your squad has their own room here, and a locker of weapons labeled with your names. Your specialty will also be labeled on your lockers. Also, these guns use paintballs, you will be given real weapons before you enter the real fight. The goal is capture the flag, your visors will supply you with the location of the flag. Get going!" Shadow, Lightfoot, Heavy, and High walk into the door labeled "Alpha-Serria Bravo", and walk to their lockers. Shadow's locker is labeled, "Shadow Fire, Team Leader, Lieutenant Captain", and inside, he finds an M-24 with an ACOG scope, dual mag attachment, and a CS-25 under-barrel grenade launcher.

Shadow gets the team together, with their weapons, and they walk through the door opposite the one they entered. Shadow commands the team on him. Crouching down on the cover of some sandbags, Shadow peeks up, and looks around the massive arena, appearing to be able to hold one of Manehattan's gigantic skyscrapers.

Seeing a man dressed as a Solar Legionnaire, he commands Lightfoot to shoot him, and he does so, splattering the man in yellow paint. Moving on, and trying to stay undetected until they reach their objective, marked with a blip on Shadow's visor, Shadow has Lightfoot continue to take out the enemies, until they get noticed by a large group, and then learn that their paintball guns, other than Lightfoot's suppressed weapons, make noise, not loud like a real gun, but loud enough to be heard from quite far away. Using their paintball counterparts of the weapons that they would use in the battlefield, the squad takes down the Solar Legionnaires, and moves on, faster, and more cautious than before, know that reinforcements were on their way.

"They know we're here, but I wonder if we can disappear again," says Shadow thoughtfully. "I have an idea, on me." He commands. Leading the team south, away from the base, Shadow loops to where they had "killed" the large group of Legionnaires, and takes the team around another way, then asks Lightfoot, "Hey, got anymore suppressors?" "Yeah, here." Lightfoot gives Shadow, Heavy, and High suppressors for their primary weapons, then Shadow takes the team forward.

Heading for the opposite side of the base, Shadow no longer calls targets, rather he takes them out himself. Looking to the tower that contained their objective, a flag that had what Shadow guessed was the Alpha-Serria logo on a flag, he spotted two snipers, said "Two snipers, 11 and 12'o clock." Then carefully aimed towards them, and shot his rifle once. The paintball instead flew onto the building, no one noticing it. Lightfoot takes his sniper rifle out, and snipes the snipers no problem.

Advancing on the tower, the team decides that the best way to get in is to breach and clear, because there would be no way in otherwise. Ditching stealth, the team rushes to the door of the tower, and secures the outside, having some wiggle room to get High Ordinance to the door, and blow it down. Shadow takes quick bursts of shots to conserve ammo, even though he has plenty.

Taking three, four, and five shots at a time, almost always hitting someone somewhere, the team successfully clears, and secures the bottom floor of the tower. Taking the suppressors off of their guns, Shadow, High, and Heavy secure the door carefully, making an explosive trap that will go off if the door is forcefully opened, which is necessary to get the door open because the keyhole on the outside was broken, so that it was impossible to open the locked door, which was simply locked as one would lock their house's front door.

Leading the way up the stairs, Shadow empties a clip aiming at an overturned table, the loud noise of the gunshots that of a regular rifle. While he was ducking down to reload his rifle, Heavy Might rushed up the stairs, firing his LMG at the table, striking a Legionnaire in the chest. He falls to the ground, "dead". Keeping the pressure on, High runs up the stairs, shooting his shotgun, and gets ready to toss a grenade. Shadow peers up, and makes as daring move. He rushes to the table, and jumps over it, shooting his rifle under him as he jumps, and "kills" the three soldiers left.

Reloading, and moving up, Shadow moves to the next floor, which is empty, then goes out to a balcony that makes a half circle of stairs around the building, then leads to an inside spiral staircase that leads up to the balcony on top of the building, where Lightfoot shot the snipers. Shadow reaches up to the flagpole, and lowers the Alpha-Serria flag.

The target on their visors change, and Shadow leads the others down the tower, keeping an eye for Legionnaires. They leave the tower, using the key, as they had left the inside keyhole undamaged, and leaves, then locks the door again from the inside, so that the trap was still set. Heading for the new target, presumably the exit, Shadows commands the team to go under the radar, and stealth past as many Legionnaire patrols as possible, and get to the next target quickly. At the target, they find a transport helicopter waiting for them.

Climbing in, Shadow looks to the pilot, and asks him, "so, how'd we do, sir?"

"Not bad, even for newbies," The pilot starts, flying the heli to another area in the arena, "But you're going to be better than our advanced men, because you are going to be the reserves, the last resort, or the leaders of the charge, because you are Alpha-Serria. We have a long time before we plan to change from supply sabotages to our first full-scale invasion, putting the name of the NLR out there. So that's a long time before you see the field, but you'll be ready, with the most vigorous training of even the other A-S squads. Lt. Captain Fire, you're gonna be the leader of all of A-S, about 20 people, 5 squads."

As they land, Shadow walks to the exit, and opens the door. Walking back into the main gym, Shadow looks to where the instructor was sitting, and calls out to her, "Marshal Front, Ma'am!"

Quelled Front whips her head around, startled, "Lieutenant Captain! I didn't expect you to be out so soon! I guess that's why you're the reserves..."

"How long were we in there, Ma'am?" Shadow asks.

"About two hours," Front replies, "Usually new standard soldiers take up to five hours, and advanced soldiers typically take around three and a half hours on their first time. Your time is usual for soldiers on their last few days of this course."

"Oh, wow, and we didn't rush either."

"Hm, you guys were really fast. We'll have to up the difficulty next time."

"Yes ma'am. What should we do now?"

"Report to lunch, then take a while off. You were expected to take all day, so nothing else was planned for Alpha-Serria."

"Yes ma'am, come on guys, let's go eat!" Shadow says, now turning to Bravo. Alpha-Serria Bravo walks to the same, mess hall as this morning, and gets lunch, Shadow's consisting of a chicken patty sandwich, an apple, a glass of milk and a half-moon cookie.

Eating in silence, Shadow wonders about the fact that he, of all the officers in Alpha-Serria, was chosen as the leader of the whole corp.

Suddenly, his communicator vibrated. He looked down, and saw an envelope icon. Pressing it with his index finger, it revealed a notice from Princess Luna.

 _"_ _Shadow Fire, you are to report to my meeting quarters as soon as you can."_ is what the message read.

"Huh, better see what she wants," Shadow mutters, finishing his meal before getting up and leaving.

 _Sorry for taking so long, it was a long chapter and I didn't have too much free time._


	6. The First Battles Pt1, Strategic Meeting

**Chapter 6: The First Battle Part 1, Strategic Meeting**

 _1237 Hours_

 _8 January 0 BNM_

" _Fire, Shadow is reporting to Princess Luna's meeting quarters to discuss a currently unknown subject to him."_

Shadow walked down a western corridor of the second story of the base, towards Princess Luna's meeting quarters as per her request. Wondering, and imagining possibilities of the reason of the meeting, Shadow walks to the very far end of the corridor, where the Princess's quarters are, meeting and personal. He steps through the open door, and walks around a corner of the room, which reveals all of the battalion leaders, Bravo-Omega, Serria-Julliet, and about ten others, including the two other special teams battalion leaders, of Alpha-Nexus and Alpha-Delta.

"Hello, Captain Fire (Shadow was promoted during the few month's training), glad you could join us so soon," Princess Luna says, non-mockingly.

"Glad to be here, my Princess," Shadow says, giving a polite, and small formal bow.

"Shall we cut to the chase?" Says the Princess of the Night, as Shadow sits down in an empty chair across from Prancing Midnight, leader of Alpha-Nexus, "In one week from now, we will make our rebellion against the Solar Empire public. Right now, the citizens of the Empire believe that I am on an Embassy to Yakyakistan, to convince them to annex into the Imperial League," The Imperial League was a group of allies to the Solar Empire, with Celestia's autocratic means ruling them like they were unofficial members of the Solar Empire, except Celestia agreed to not occupy any Imperial League countries, and she had to come to their aid if any wars cropped up, same with any other League member/country.

This made them very wealthy, and very powerful countries, forming large empires of their own. "But, as we all know here, this is not true, and Celestia is investigating this as privately as she can, possibly incarcerating or executing those she interrogates.

(A/N: I was looking at a map of Equestria the whole time I wrote this part, it may be helpful to pull one up)  
"So we shall give her a small hint of what we have been doing. Next week, we are attacking many guard outposts of the Solar Empire, including those 3 miles west Manehattan, 1 mile south of Trottingham, in the western San Palomino Desert, 5 miles south of Los Pegasus, and 2 miles from the coast. Your squads will be receiving their exact coordinates when en route to their locations of attack." Luna puts red flags with the Solar Empire's icon on it on the guards posts' locations, other red flags being at all major Equestrian cities.

"Others will be hitting supply lines, including from Yakyakistan to the Crystal Empire, from the Griffin Lands to Trottingham Isle, from Manehattan to Central Equestria, and finally From Appleoosa to Ponyville. Squads partaking in that attack will be notified of coordinates when en route to their general location as well." She puts small red X's with pencil on the general locations of the places where the supply lines will be sabotaged.

"The final attacks that will take place is in the two islands in the Lunar Bay, from where we will soon make a hit on the Vanhoover supply line, and taking it for our base in mainland Equestria." Luna says, moving blue Lunar Republic flags to the two islands in the Lunar Bay, and knocking a red Solar Empire flag from over Vanhoover with a blue one and replacing it with the blue one.

"Our only major problem is the Imperial League. As soon as we attack, the League will be on full alert, and will likely counter soon after we take Vanhoover. It is of utmost importance then that we take Vanhoover swiftly and cleanly, so that we will be ready for many attacks from the more powerful armies of the Zebranoic, Canine, and Saddle Arabian Empires, as well as Celestia's own armies. The Saddle Arabians will likely strike first, as they are closer, being to the very south of Equestria," She moves two Saddle Arabian flags, also red, from the South Lunar Ocean, to the Los Pegasus Bay, and across the land, past the Smokey Mountains, and into Vanhoover. "This," She says, referring to the motion she just preformed, "Is the Saddle Arabian's plausible route of attack.

"Soon after, we can expect Zebraconica to attack from the south, possibly joining up with Saddle Arabia, from the south as well." She moves a red flag with the Zebra's icon on it from the very south of Equestria, past the western end of the Macintosh Hills, through the San Palomino Desert, past White Tail Woods, keeping the flag on the railroad from Las Pegasus, until the pass between the Unicorn Range and Smokey mountains, then crossing it with the Saddle Arabian path. "That is the predicted Zebranoic path of attack.

"The Canines may not come at the same time, but they are required to send at least an army," Luna says, acknowledging the tension between the Canines and the other Imperial League members, "So they will attack from the North Lunar Ocean, coming in with their powerful Navy, and we need to establish a heavy presence in the seas, and maybe later send an embassy to Caninia." Moving another red flag, now with Caninia's icon, across the North Lunar Ocean, and into Vanhoover by sea, she also motions a blue New Lunar Republic flag into the seas from the two isles in the Lunar Bay, representing the Lunar Navy.

"That is our first move into Mainland Equestria. Any questions? No? Good. All squads will be informed of their assignments during this week. Dismissed."

All of the battalion leaders exit the room, giving a short formal bow to the princess as they stand up. Shadow walks to a weight room behind the gym that the Alpha-Serria teams first met up in, and starts an endurance exercise. He lifts 100lb weights, not very much for him, and does 30 reps before taking a five minute break, repeats it, and takes a 4 minute and 45 second break, and decreases his break time until he only takes a 15 second break, and stops after the 30 reps after the 15 second break. He then takes ten minutes, and gets a sports drink from a refrigerator in the back of the weight room, then he runs on a treadmill at about 5mph, and repeats the break cycle, running for five minutes, then taking a break for five minutes, and repeats until he runs for ten straight minutes. Finally he stops, having taken two hours of time, he meets with his squad, and an officer gives them a slip of paper that reads:

 _Alpha-Serria Bravo will be assisting in the attack of Vanhoover on the day of 16 January, they will leave at 6:00 hours and attack at 7:30 hours, and will be assisting in taking out initial defenses, such as AA Weapons, and MG Nests. The leader, Shadow Fire, has been given complete field authority over the battalion of Omega-Zulu, whom will be the other attacking team._

Shadow says, "Thank you sir," and gives the officer a salute, then reads it aloud to his squad mates. They finish their daily routine and head off to bed for lights out, and for the rest of the week, they prepare for the attack, sitting in at strategy meetings and getting familiar with the city layout, even though most of the attack team hasn't ever set foot in the city. They learn of key points of where to attack, codenamed points, and the grid of the city, so that they can accurately call airstrikes and reinforcements.


	7. First Battles Pt2 Attack on Vanhoover

**Chapter 7: First Battles Part 2, The Attack On Vanhoover**

 _6:30 Hours_

 _16 January 0 BNM_

" _Fire, Shadow and the rest of Alpha-Serria, along with Omega-Zulu battalion, are en route to Vanhoover for the attack on the city."_

Shadow was seated in a ATR-5 Transport Heli, which was flanked by a pair of RTU-20A Attack Heli's, and Shadowbolt TU-45 Fighter Jets' Oscar-Delta squadron leading the way, bombing AA gun placements, making it easier for the squads to land. The transport helicopter seated 50 people, plus the pilot and co-pilot, all the seats filled with the attack team, with reinforcements on stand by, being a radio call away.

The heli's land, and Shadow hollers for "All teams, GO! GO! GO!", everyone rushing out while Shadow waves them out of the heli. Rushing into the fight at the landing zone, Shadow instantly shoots two legionnaires in the head, and hits another in the arm, disabling him as another soldier shoots him in the head. Shadow runs to a piece of a broken building, likely industrial, and uses the huge chunk as cover, and fires some grenades from his CS-45 at some not-so-spaced troops, blasting them to pieces. Swapping back to his rifle, he dispatches another pair of Legionnaires, and the attack team kills the rest of the defenders in the LZ, and makes their way forwards.

"We split up into groups of five, maintaining a 2 yards spread. If shots go off, find cover immediately, and see if you can assist from your location. If a MG nest if found, call air support on it, or take it out with some kind of explosive." Shadow lays out a strategy, "When we come near objective Bravo, which has been marked on your visors, we will surround, and breach, making sure all MG nests that we can take out are taken out. There are two doors, so we will split up and breach both, and find the objective within, a command center, where we will find out the helipad's location, because we oddly could not find it, but we know there is one. Also we will be looking for a barracks, and close any reinforcements portals, and hopefully open our own. Any questions?"

There was no reply.

"Alright then, move out in your assigned squads!"

Shadow and A-S B stuck together, the special units squad looking for any emplacements, but it was oddly quiet.

Sensing this, he shouts, "Everyone, stop! For- TAKE COVER!" As Shadow started talking, an ambush was revealed, with three MG nests revealing themselves, on the third stories of different buildings, all in front of the company. Shadow takes out his radio, and says, "RTU Vector-Diablo, come in!"

"RTU Vector-Diablo here, over." was the reply over the radio.

"This is Alpha-Serria Bravo, verification Charlie-Omega-Diablo Mike-Whiskey!"

"Verified, over."

"We need assistance, at grid Alpha-Delta 4, sector 4 Tango, danger close! You'll see 'em when you get here, we're gonna mark the buildings with smoke, there are third story Mike-Gamma nests on the buildings marked with red smoke, repeat, targets are third story of buildings marked with red smoke, danger close!" Shadow calls in an airstrike on the MG nests, as the team was too far pinned to do anything themselves.

"Copy that. Vector-Diablo is on it's way."

Shadow now puts the radio away, and calls out to the pinned troops, "Alright, we need to mark the MG nests somehow with red smoke, anybody got a smoke 'nade?"

"Sir, here!" Calls out an Omega-Zulu soldier, tossing three, one at a time, to Shadow.

"Thank you!" Shadow puts red dyes into the smoke grenades, as there is a slot, and all soldiers carry the dyes, red for target, green for friendlies in need, and blue for LZ's and package pickup, as in a VIP that needs escort out of the warzone.

Shadow launches the red smoke grenades out of his grenade launcher, and onto the top of the buildings. Momentarily, the heli arrives, and uses missiles to destroy the MG nests.

Over the radio, Shadow hears, "All targets destroyed, Vector-Zulu going to stand-by, over and out."

"Move up!" Shadow shouts, leading the attackers towards the next objective. Jogging up the next two streets, then turning east, Shadow spots a patrol, and immediately shoots them, killing one, and missing the other, unintentionally giving him an opportunity to take cover and call for reinforcements. As the legionnaire peeks his head up, he is shot by Lightfoot, and the team moves quickly as to intercept the reinforcements, but then a command comes over their radios:

"All units: This is command. There is a massive force coming your way, about 200 infantry units supported by about 5 heavy tanks. We advise you to take cover in the nearby buildings, as we do not believe that they know where you are at the moment. Their ETA is 60 seconds and counting, over."


	8. First Battles Pt3, Attack on VH Pt2

**Chapter 8: First Battle Part 3, The Attack On Vanhoover Part 2**

 _ **Quick Note: I am accepting OC's. PM me if you have an OC that you want to be used. I will reply with a form that you may copy-paste to Word or some other writing program, and insert your OC's info. I will have no limit on OC's submitted by one person, unless I get a bunch of submissions from several people. Also, as you may have noticed, my uploading schedule will be erratic. Please bear with me, as I will find as much time to write as possible, as well as trying to manage my YouTube channel.**_

 _ **Note 2: Sorry for the wait. I got lazy and put off writing this.**_

 _ **(** 8:00) Hours)_

" _Alpha-Serria Bravo and the Vanhoover attack force is about to have contact with a large enemy attack force."_

Shadow commands everyone inside the buildings, and to not engage until the order is given to do so.

"Command, how much support can we get on those units, because eventually they're gonna realize we're not there, and they might find us in these buildings? I'd rather hit 'em in the ass than wait for them to come back."

"Captain, we have two support birds on stand-by, and a load of fresh troops waiting for you."

"Get the birds up and running, have them here after those 60 seconds, and wait for my order to attack."

"Gotcha captain, Command out."

"Alright," Shadow says over the squad radio, "We got a huge Tango force on their way, and friendly light heli's for support. The rest is up to us, so here's what we're gonna do: Hit 'em in the ass. Set up LMG's and sniper nests, cuz surprise is gonna be what we need."

The troops do just that, setting up second and third story LMG nests, and fourth and third story snipers. The rest either sit in the ground floor, or up in the LMG nests to attack when the reinforcements pass them.

About a minute after the Command's alert, the reinforcements come down the street, with Shadow sitting next to a window muttering, "Not yet... not yet... not yet..." Into the radio, until the last tank rolls past his building. He says, "NOW! GO! GO! GO! WEAPONS FREE!" and fires a grenade under the tank that just past him, while other shoot grenades under the other tanks and into the midst of troops, the machine guns opening fire simultaneously as the snipers open fire, equipped with rifles that have a fire rate so high, they are almost considered semi-automatic rifles with high-powered scopes. Gunshots rang all around as the Solar Empire legionnaires were ambushed, confusion spreading as the NLR agents threw smoke down. Shadow looked for silhouettes in the smoke as he fired single rounds randomly. As the smoke starts clearing, the Solar Empire soldiers figure out where some of the NLR agents are holed up, and try to make their way to the buildings, only to be gunned down by the LMG nests set up.

"MORE SOLAR BASTARDS INCOMING!" Shadow yells, catching sight on even more troops with more tanks. "Command, this is Bravo, requesting those birds! We got a shit-load of enemy armor and infantry incoming."

"Gotcha Bravo, birds on their way. ETA 30 seconds. Command out."

Sounds of choppers quickly approach, and two attack heli's descend terror and mayhem on the Solar attack force. Another helicopter descends and releases a group of about 20 men into the battlefield. Shadow and the original force provide covering fire from the buildings, so that the helicopter may deposit it's forces onto the battlefield with no problems. Shadow threw grenade after grenade to keep the Solar Forces in disarray until the reinforcements could take cover in buildings and on destroyed cars and the tank that was taken down a moment ago. The last of the Solar Legionnaires were taken down, and Shadow ordered the group forward.

Taking the lead, Shadow pushed for the center of the city, to take the Town Hall. They encountered little resistance as they pushed, but what encounters they had with the enemy pushed every soldier to the limit. Most had not been in the field before, or had little experience, except for training, which a can only take one so far.

 _(10:00 Hours)_

The Town Hall was a sturdy and stout building, comparable to a larger sized version of the Ponyville Town Hall. Shadow started to sprint towards it as soon as he saw it, being about 100 yards away.

Shadow was less than 25 yards from the Hall, when the giveaway glint of a sniper rifle caught his eye. Being out in the open, both Shadow and the sniper knew that he could only go forward, and the sniper was counting on that. What he didn't count on was that Lightfoot saw the sniper as well, and counter-sniped the sniper.

"Thanks, Lightfoot." Shadow said over the radio. "Anytime, sir." Was Lightfoot's response.

"Everyone, come on up. We're gonna breach and clear, then put up the flag. High Ordinance, use your C8 explosives. We want this as clean as possible, We might get lucky enough to find some intel on Solar troop movements." The group moved up to the Town Hall, watching out for more snipers.

High Ordinance set his C8 quiet discharge explosives on the door, and Shadow commanded everyone back 10 yards. The C8 explosives were near-silent, and limited damage around themselves upon detonation. But, in order to do that, they had to explode away from the surface they were placed on, the radius being up to 5.5 yards, and shrapnel spreading to 6 yards. To be safe, the NLR troops were trained to be at least 10 yards away.

At the same time, another force splits from the main team and goes around back, awaiting for the larger group to be engaged before sneaking in and attempting to take intel before it can be destroyed. The larger force, lead by Shadow breaches the front door of the Town Hall, and volleys of bullets fly everywhere. Shadow tosses a flash-bang, getting it to bounce inside the doorway, and not affect any of his comrades. He ran up and killed the soldiers in the front room, whom were temporally blind and deaf from the flash-bang.

Shots resonate from the back as well, as Lightfoot led a smaller force as planned into the Town Hall just before Shadow had thrown the flash-bang. The two teams met up, and breached a room that seemed to be a barracks, as it held many (now dead) Solar Legionnaires, and a pair of reinforcement portals. Shadow disconnected them, and contacted Command. "Command, this is Alpha-Serria Bravo, We are ready to set up a pair of reinforcement portals so that you may begin to garrison the city, over." "This is Command, Bravo go ahead and request connection for those portals." Shadow placed devices just behind the places where the Solar portals were, and pressed a button on them.

"Connection received, Bravo." The portals began to glow blue, contrary to the yellow from earlier. Soldiers began to pour from the portals and out of the Town Hall. One, wearing a Captain's badge, stopped, and looked to Shadow.

"Couldn't thank ya enough, Alpha-Serria. My men will take care of the city from here. You should probably report to the Lunar Isles." The captain jogged to catch up with the last of the soldiers, who had filed out of the barracks.

Shadow turned to his men, who had stayed put. "Well, gentlemen, we did it! Omega-Zulu, you are free to join with the Corps. Alpha-Serria, you're stuck with me still." The soldiers called out in celebration, and Shadow smiled.

"Command, could we have a lift to the Lunar Isles whenever you have a transport heli to spare?" "Uh, yeah, Bravo. Sending one now." Shadow motioned for Alpha-Serria to follow him, and they went out in to the open space around the Town Hall, just in time to watch the ceremony of lowering the Solar Empire's flag and raising that of the New Lunar Republic.


	9. The Moon is Brighter than the Sun

**Chapter 9: The Moon Is Brighter Than the Sun**

 _(13:00 Hours, Transport en Route to The Lunar Islands Naval Base, Northern Lunar Ocean, Northwest Equestria)_

" _Fire, Shadow and the Alpha-Serria Battalion has finished their work in Vanhoover, and are heading to the New Lunar Republic's new base of operations in the Lunar Isles, two islands just off of Vanhoover, in the Northern Lunar Sea for de-breifing."_

Shadow was sitting in another ATR-5 Transport Heli, this time, however, he and his troops were more relaxed, the celebratory mood spreading to the pilots themselves, making jokes over the intercom. This was one of the last times this would occur, though. The soldiers didn't bring that up to keep their uplifted mood. Morality was as big of a tool in war as weapons and tactics.

After the short helicopter ride, Shadow reported to an officer's de-breifing, which was more detailed than the other soldiers' one. Other than at Vanhoover, success was reported at the assaults in the San Palomino, the Crystal Empire, and the Trottingham trade route sabotages. The others, however, had trouble with the soldiers that were moving on the routes. Apparently, Lunar spies and scouts were unable to pick up the notices on these transports.

Now, the focus of the Republic was reverted to holding Vanhoover. Lunar intel reported of Imperial League movement, as Princess Luna predicted. The first of many armies were coming from Saddle Arabia, and would arrive at about 8:00 hours the next day, about 24 hours after the Solar Empire had been attacked. The city would be secured and fortified by then, and hopefully, the Lunar Armies' defense was as good as their offense. There were many measures set up if the line was unable to hold their positions, with sniper and machine-gun nests set up all over.

The next attack, after the New Lunar Republic set up a foothold in Vanhoover, would be to take the entire Northwest of Mainland Equestria. There were many minor towns and military bases scattered in Northwest Equestria, which actually had more devotion to Luna than Celestia, so the bigger problem would be the military, and less the resistance of civilians against the NLR's moving in.

The Alpha-Serria squads and Omega-Zulu, as well as another pair of battalions would be on stand-by, awaiting reinforcement requests via reinforcement portals that were set up in various other places in the city, as well as the Town Hall's basement/barracks. The entirety of the rest of the NLR Army, as well as most of the NLR's Air Force would be fighting to keep Vanhoover under Lunar control.

There were bomber and fighter jet patrols, looking for the movements of the Saddle Arabian armies. What would happen, is that the fighters would locate the armies, once they had entered the area within 3 miles of Vanhoover, and the bombers would weaken them, by blasting them to pieces. They likely wouldn't be taking mobile AA guns with them, so the planes should be fine.

So far, everything was as planned. Luna had a broadcast onto the hacked Solar Empire Emergency Channel scheduled for when Celestia held a press conference about the attacks. Luna and her tech wizards would break into the Emergency Channel System, which was in part built by Luna's technicians, and the Princess of the Night would hold a speech on her "rebellion".

This would make Celestia pretty angry, and Luna wanted that. The whole of the Empire, and any Lunar soldier at ease would be watching, therefore there was no denying what Luna would say.

 _(17:00 Hours)_

Shadow was in a lounge, when he turned the T.V. on, wishing to watch the broadcast. He switched it just in time to see the Solar Empire's insignia, as well as an instrumental that Shadow hadn't heard before. The insignia faded to a man, wearing a tuxedo and glasses. He held a paper, and read from it: "And now, our Glorious Leader, Empress Celestia."

"Thank you, General Formation. As you all may have heard, there is a rebellion of terrorists and madmen running about, calling them selves the New Lunar Republic, after the early civilization, known in the modern day as the Lunar Republic.

"They are supposedly led by my sister, Princess Luna. About three and a half months ago, she took the entirety of the Lunar Guard Corps., her personal guards, to an unknown location.

"I can assure you, my subjects, that they will be put down soon. Meanwhile, talk of the rebellion, or my sister, is now punishable by death for high treason. Any speaking about the forbidden subjects will not be subject to trial.

"And for any feeling rebellious-" Celestia was cut off, as static, then the New Lunar Republic's insignia, with an instrumental (For The New Lunar Republic, by I Am Not a Clever Pony), played then faded to Luna's face. "For those who are unfamiliar with me, I am Princess Luna, leader of the New Lunar Republic, a rebellion of soldiers fighting for what they see is right. As my sister had said, we are named for the Lunar Republic, as the modern text books call them.

"And we are making our cause public. We have taken the city of Vanhoover, and plan to expand from there," At this point, Shadow is motioned into the broadcast room, standing in front of another camera, as Luna continues, "Liberating the world from the tyrannical rule of the Solar Empire, and restoring the conquered states' former governments. The New Lunar Republic, and myself, declare war on the Solar Empire, and will prove the Moon is brighter than the Sun. Now, you were saying, 'Tia?" Luna finishes of rhetorically, with a smug look.

Celestia sputtered, as half of the screen was restored to view both sisters. She regained her formal attitude, and said to the cameras, "You are no sister of mine, traitor. I accept your declaration of war. Know that you, and your _rebellion_ ," Celestia empathized the word with disgust, "Will be put down."

"I'd like to see that, 'Tia." Luna retorted, taking advantage of the world seeing the Solar Empress in such a state. "Don't think you can find me easily, either." Luna says, in regards to her secret base.

"Either way, you will be defeated!" Celestia responds, clearly agitated.

"Ladies, ladies, please!" Shadow cuts in, with the picture of the two women moving upwards, and compacting, to show Shadow in a wide frame at the bottom, wearing his battle attire.

"I can assure you all, that the NLR will put up a hell of a fight, Celestia. Now, I do believe this is a press conference. Anyone have any questions about the two ladies' showdown?"

A man wearing a backwards cap raises his hand on a screen that Shadow and Luna used to see the audience.

"Yes, with the cap?" Shadow says, clearly commandeering the conference.

"Inked Pen, mister..?"

"Captain Shadow Fire."

"Yes, Captain Fire, what is the Republic's ultimate goal?"

"Well, we plan to take down the Solar Empire, freeing the other countries under it's rule."

Another raises her hand, a woman with a journal and a purple dress.

"Yes?"

"Front Lines, Manehattan Journal Daily, does this 'New Lunar Republic' plan on essentially taking the place of our glorious Empire?"

"Yes and no. As far as I know, the Republic will only control Equestria, and her original territories. Assistance will be given to the restored governments if necessary, but afterwards, the Republic would never be affiliated with other's governments, just by trade and diplomacy."

"Mister Fire, please explain the republican form of government."

"Well, a republic is a form of government that is controlled by a single ruler, with a high council, elected by the republican country's citizens. This high council can veto the ruler's domestic and foreign policies, and declarations of war. The council can also present to the ruler bills of policies and laws, which can also be vetoed. In times of war, however, the ruler would take control of military policies, but cannot initiate a draft, or other policy that would affect the citizens of their country without the council's consent."

 _(A/N: I know this is different from the real world, but it will suit this world, and the NLR.)_

"Thank you, Mister Fire."

Shadow kept up on answering questions, except when Luna or Celestia were addressed, until there weren't anymore questions.

 _(1900 Hours)_

At that point, Shadow told the reporters, "Thank you for your time, ladies and gentlemen. I hoped we answered your questions satisfactorily." The screen faded out to the NLR and Solar Empire's emblems on half of the screen, with the two instrumentals playing over each other. Shadow had grown a little bit fatigued over the verbal 'dance' he just preformed, giving information generously, while not spoiling secrets of the NLR, and walked to the portal to the main base, where the rest of his squad had already retired, and also retired himself for the night, resting up for the imminent attack the next day, with there being fourteen hours until the Saddle Arabians were expected to arrive.


	10. Lunar Tower Defense

**Chapter 10: Lunar Tower Defense**

 _The Saddle Arabian attack on Vanhoover is expected to commence at any moment._

Shadow and his squad were mounted up in a helicopter, awaiting reinforcement or air support requests. Shadow was bored, and listened intently to the radio comms, trying to gather what was happening:

[NLR Infantry] _This is the First Infantry Army, Unit Seven Bravo Niner! we have contact with Tangoes! They appear to be Saddle Arabian, supported by the Solar Air Guard!_

[Command] _Noted Seven Bravo Niner. Take them out as best you can, and hold the line._

[Seven Bravo Niner] _Yes, Commend!_

[NLR Pilot] _This is Shadowbolt TU-45 Squad Oscar-Delta, we heard you needed some help down there, gentlemen._

[Seven Bravo Niner] _Hell yeah! We are at Grid Nineteen, Sector Five Tango-Delta! Danger close!_

[NLR Infantry] _This is Oscar-Zulu Niner, we need reinforcements at Sector Five Bravo, Grid Foxtrot Niner, over. We are pinned down with five men remaining of our twenty-men force._

[Command] _Sorry, kid, can't send you those reinforcements. Everyone's in the shit. We are sending aerial_ _support, though._

Lightfoot nudged Shadow, and said, "That's us, sir." "Alright, everyone ready? We need to support a pinned down squad of friendlies, and we to do it fast, and clean!"

"Yes sir!" Came the voices of Shadow's squad, and the Lunar Marine's Bravo-Two squad. "Marines, you will man the port and back side guns, and one of you take the port-side grenade launcher! Ordinance, you're gonna man the broadside grenade launcher, Lightfoot, Might, you're with me on the broadside guns!"

Once again, everyone responds with, "Yes sir!" Shadow walks to the cockpit, and asks the pilots, "You gentlemen ready?" "You betcha." "Alright, I will tell Oscar Zulu we're coming." As the heli takes off from an aircraft carrier docked at Vanhoover, Shadow takes his seat next to his gun, and says into his radio, "Oscar-Zulu Niner, come in." "Oscar-Zulu here." "This is Alpha-Serria Bravo and Lunar Marines Bravo Two, we are coming in hard from your eight-o'clock in about 140 seconds." "Read ya, Bravo."

The helicopter was well on it's way, about half way across the city, about 60 seconds from the warzone, and another 10 from Oscar-Zulu. Shadowbolts flew overhead in squads of four or five, and there were many other attack and support heli's all around the heli Shadow was in. "ETA about 70 seconds, Oscar-Zulu, hang in there." Shadow said into the radio. "Alright, Bravo, hurry!"

Once the helicopter was over the line of defense, Shadow looked out his window. "By the sweet Moon's light..." Shadow muttered. All around, there was large patches of fire, and in the distance, there was a sea of red; the 1st through 100th Solar Attack Divisions, over 10,000 soldiers.

"Uh, Command," Shadow says in his radio, "You're aware of the large Solar armies heading our way, right? They're gonna be on top of us within the hour." "Yes, we do. We have every man we can spare out there, though. You're gonna have to figure something out." "Shit!" Shadow yells, and punches the steel wall of the helicopter, before muttering, "Motherfuckers!", and nursing his injured hand.

"What happened, sir?" Asks a Lunar Marine. "About half of the Solar Armed Forces are on their way now, and we got every man Command will let go. We're gonna have to figure something out, because their gonna be here in an hour."

"Damnit." Says the Marine, and the others voice similar frustration. About 10 seconds later, the team arrives at Oscar-Zulu's position, only to find them overrun just as the heli arrives.

Rockets fly around, barely missing the heli, as the pilot pulls back, and flies back towards the city. "Holy fucking shit. We're gonna need a miracle to pull this off." Says a Lunar Marine. "I know, but we can't lose hope. We have pulled off more impossible things with fewer men. And we need every man on the front lines." Shadow states, then the pilot calls back, "I agree, Command wants every heli to drop off half their chalk, then return to base for refuel and rearming, then support the defensive line.

"They also want the entire Alpha-Serria team leading the defense, that means you, Captain." "Alright, well, let's go. Alpha-Serria, on me!"

The heli pauses in mid-air, and allows Shadow and his team to slide down ropes to the battlefield. A Lunar Marine pulls the ropes back up, and the heli heads back towards the aircraft carrier. Shadow leads his team to the first line of defense, a large trench that goes all around the city, stopping a few yards before the ocean. After the trench, was lines of sandbags that stretched about 2 yards, facing downhill. Vanhoover was on a large hill, and that hill had been flattened out on the top, about a mile wide, for the city to be built (Think of the sandbag/line of defense in the first Vietnam mission in CoD Black Ops. 1, where there were many sandbags for cover on a hill, and so on. This defense system is similar). Shadow slide down the hill a little bit, and started shooting any Solar Legionnaire he saw.

The pressure was on, but Shadow and Alpha-Serria pushed back, hard. After about twenty minutes of hard fighting, a massive plane, bigger than the standard NLR bombers by tenfold, flanked and surrounded by a ton of fighter planes flew overhead. The flock of planes flew towards the Solar troops in the distance, about 20 miles, and thirty minutes on foot, away. Shadow, and likely many others, including Solar troops, stared at the planes, stunned by the middle one's incredible size.

The plane flew over the large army, and dropped it's payload. It was thousands of experimental cluster bombs, and one prototype, not even tested yet, bomb. It was this world's equivalent of a nuclear weapon.


	11. The Bomb that Paused the World

**Chapter 11: The Bomb That Paused the World**

 _(17 January, 0 BNM, 8:30 Hours)_

 _Fire, Shadow is defending Vanhoover along with most of the Lunar Armed Forces when a massive Solar army is discovered, and experimental bombs are dropped over the distant reinforcements._

The bomb took years to even make possible. It was the first magic-powered weapon in the world. As soon as it hit the ground, the fleet of planes were fleeing (-10,000 word mark!), as no one knew what kind of damage it would do.

An immense wind nearly knocked Shadow over, as the sky turned red, and, at the ground zero for the weapon, all vegetation within a single mile no longer existed. Almost every weapon was silent, and no one spoke. A massive mushroom cloud (most affiliated with a nuclear weapon in our world) swept over the area, as a mass heat struck Shadow, making him sweat in seconds. This surprised Shadow as much as the wind and mushroom cloud, as he did not sweat easily.

( _ **A/N:**_ _I_ _would like to put this out now: This weapon is in many wa_ _y_ _s more dangerous than a nuclear weapon nowadays. But also less dangerous in some ways. The higher danger is the use of magic in a weapon, which was about as experimental as using uranium in a weapon back in the Second World War. The advantage is that the radiation_ _is_ _magical radiation, which wouldn't affect the Equestrians as much, as they are regularly exposed to it. It would maybe give them chills, and_ _possibly_ _affect magic usage._ _)_

Shadow yelled out, "What the hell was that?!" "I dunno sir!" Came a reply, but Shadow could not identify who, strangely. Seconds after Shadow recovered, it seemed the rest of the world did too. Many voices were jumbled over the radio, all asking one thing: What the hell happened?

This weapon was of unprecedented power. It was the first Weapon of Mass Destruction in history. And this day would mark the future Nightmare Night.

Another first was that the Solar Armed forces were actually retreating! It was a huge moral boost for the New Lunar Republic's fatigued soldiers and Shadow was beyond surprised at this point. Command came over every radio: "All forces, This is Command. Pack it up and head back to your respective barracks."

All forces did so, with a majority of them pestering Command with questions about what happened, only to get radio silence. "Wonder what'll happen at the de-breifing..." Shadow muttered, as he climbed aboard a transport heli that was packed full with it's 60 maximum soldiers. "Ah dunno, Captain, but Ah reckon it'll be interestin'." A woman speaks up from next to Shadow. (Three guess on this woman's last name?)

"Hm? Oh, hello...?" "Apple. Private Juicy Apple." "Oh, Captain Shadow-" "Fire, yeah Ah know. Don' recognize meh? Surprisin'." "How come?" "You're Flash Fire's son, yes?" "Yeah, what about him?" Shadow's tone grew more defensive at the mention of his father. "Remember we met at his funeral? Ah saw you, then ya caught meh starin' and things went on from there?" "Oh, yeah." Shadow's tone grew wary now. "How've you been, Juice?" "Pretty well, considerin'." Juicy was Shadow's high school sweetheart, right before she moved to the country town of Ponyville and he dropped out of West Manehattan High to focus on his gang, and avenging his father's death. "Ah got meh a husband to go back to, already with children." "That's good to hear." Shadow was glad she had a life outside of the war, unlike himself.

"It'd be good, if Ponyville weren't in the Solar Empire." Shadow stayed silent. He didn't feel the struggle of leaving his family to possibly die from Solar Guards questioning them as the others who left their families for the Lunar Corps. and the NLR did, as his only remaining family member, his brother, Bursting "Shotz Fired" Fire, was used to living outside the law, and on the run. He did not feel that Burst was in danger, as he was the toughest person Shadow thought he would ever know. "How about yer brother, Shadow? How's he doin'?" "I'd bet he's doing just fine." "That's good." The two sat in silence for the rest of the heli ride.

 _( 9:00 Hours)_

Finally the heli landed, and Shadow jogged out and to the portal to the secret base. He stepped through and jogged towards the officer's briefing room. He walked in, and sat in the front row. About fifteen minutes later, the room had every officer in the army inside and seated, awaiting either Princess Luna or General War Gong's explanation of what happened, and what the bomb was.

Luna was the one to debrief the officers this time, meaning that War Gong was with the other two Generals, Covering Fire and Deadly Strafe, as well as with the commander of the NLR AF, Landing Gear, and Admiral Sinking Fleet, commander of the NLN (New Lunar Navy), discussing tactics and whatnot, and likely arguing over the bomb. The heads of the three branches were infamous for not getting along well on most things, if and where to attack, how many forces to use, and now likely the WMD that was set off this morning.

 _( 10:00 Hours)_

The Princess of the Night walked to the podium, and started her de-breifing, "Today, at approximately 8:30 hours," The Princess of the Night began, ",an extremely experimental weapon was set off. This is a weapon powered by magic, and is experimental and extremely classified." She paused.

"The others have no idea about this weapon, other than the fact that it is a powered by Magic. This testing was commanded by myself, as there seemed no other option. We now see that it is too dangerous to ever be used again, and all of our current prototypes of this weapon are being placed where only I can access them. I can only pray that other societies will never unlock the secrets of this weapon. I believe we can all agree that the bomb should never be used again. Dismissed." Luna finished.

The officers got up and left, after the short, and not very thorough de-breifing. Shadow could see why, this was a powerful weapon, that should never get into the hands of another society. He walked back to his quarters, and sat on his bed, the detonating of the weapon burned into his memory.

Two hours later, Alpha-Serria Bravo was sitting at their cafeteria table, voices ringing around the silent squad. Most conversations were about the detonating of the weapon, and rumours were spreading on why Luna tested the weapon there and then .

There were the more practical reasons: It was to save the entire military from being nearly wiped out, or that those same forces could never take that size of opposition. There were also the irrational conspiracies; Luna was becoming tyrannical, maybe worse than Celestia, and that she would use these bombs on the rest of Equestria, where the Republic's soldiers' families were.

Shadow instantly dismissed all of these rumours, he did not care for these drama-causing words that interrupted his focus on improving himself, and forming strategies (stratigizing is not a word, apparently) with others. He decided to end the day, heading to his quarters in the main base via a portal in the Lunar Isles base.

 _I have been thinking about publishing the scrapped original version of this story on Fanfiction, and I cannot decide. Therefore, when this story reaches 20 fav and follows combined, I will release a poll lasting for three days after the publishing of two chapters after the target favs/follows is reached. For example, if The Dawn Wars reaches 20 favs/follows by Chapter 20, and the poll is set up then, then three days after Chapter 22 is published would be the day the poll ends. I am really excited to see what those who like this story think, and what you will chose. It is a nine chapter fic (ninth chapter is halfway done), and will take seconds to update, but I will update it daily. This story will have no effect whatsoever on my current version of Dawn Wars, and will not be updated after the final chapter is published. I will post an A/N about the poll when the target Favs/Follows is reached._


	12. Battle at Trottingham Isle

**Chapter 12: The Battle at Trottingham Isle**

 _(20 January, 0 BNM)_

 _13:00 Hours_

 _Fire, Shadow and his team are heading to Trottingham Isle, Eastern Equestria, to assist with the battle for said island._

Shadow was nauseous from the transport portal; he greatly preferred the slower (and less magical) helicopter ride. It was unpractical for heading all the way across Equestria, though, especially for his current mission. Alpha-Serria Bravo was to assist the 1st, 3rd, and 25th Lunar Infantry Armies, 2nd Lunar Marines, and 3rd Lunar Aerial Squadron with taking the key trade route of Trottingham Island.

The Solar Empire would be cut off from the Griffon Territories, with their only other major trade routes being to Yakyakistan, Zebraconica and Saddle Arabia, and Caninia.

Shadow was just recovering from his wave of nausea, when a young man came up, sporting the uniform of a Private from the 1st Lunar Infantry. He was just tipping five foot, and looked more like a reader than a fighter. "Sir, the Generals are about to start their meeting!"

Shadow replies, "Alright, thank you...?" Shadow trailed off, looking for the young soldier's name.

"Private Bookmark, of the New Lunar Republic 1st Lunar Infantry , sir!"

"Thank you, Private. Lead the way, if you would."

The young soldier led the squad through the camp, making Shadow glad he wasn't stationed in one place. The camp was crowded with tents, and soldiers. The scattered fires must have been for cooking, as this year's Winter may have been summer; it hasn't even snowed yet.

The soldier, Bookmark, had stopped in front of a tent that was just bigger than the others, with a large door way flap which was closed. He opened the flap slightly and said inside, "General, Captain Fire is here to see you."

"Let him in." Came a rough voice from within the tent.

Bookmark motioned for Shadow to enter, and he did so, opening the tent to find Generals Working Iron and Flying Eagle.

"Captain, sit." Working Iron commanded, and Shadow did so. The two Generals were seated a rather large table, with Work Horse sitting at the head. Shadow found himself seated across from General Eagle, and to the left of General Iron.

The table itself held a map of Trottingham Island, and outposts right up to the famed Trottingham City. There were guard outposts, patrol check-ins, and others marked with red flags, and others of the same marked with blue flags. The blue flags were generally more towards the southern part of the island, where there was only one village.

The strategy for taking the island was to take out outposts all in one day, which wouldn't be too hard, and then assault the city itself. The plan for that, as the Generals discussed, was that the forces would attack through a large field, that the Solars had fortified once they had learned of the fact that the Lunar Army was on their island. There were two trench lines, quite a distance apart, as the scouts had reported, with lines of sandbags in between. The Lunar forces would assault the first trench from the forest, snipers doing most of the work, and then the main army would move in. If there was a reinforcement portal, which was unlikely, they would hook that up to the Lunar Isles, and gradually push back the Solar Empire troops behind the last trench, and into the city.

The biggest problem would be attacking the city. Last time, the NLR had surprise on their side. Now, the guerrilla tactics that Shadow favoured, and had pitched up, were next to useless. The key objectives had to be taken, and the battle had to be played by the book. With the battle planned out, the three officers took their own leaves, and Shadow went to brief the group under his command.

Shadow briefly explained the outline of the plan the Generals set up, as to have everyone at the very least know about what they were doing.

Shadow's company, call-sign "Delta-Serria Niner", was about 200 strong, made of soldiers from the 1st Lunar Infantry Army, and the whole of Alpha-Serria Bravo.

He informed the others of who he was, and the basic outline of the battle plan. They were to wait for the rest of the army to secure the first trench, and then they would reinforce by either a reinforcement portal, or by simply running in.

Later, when the attack was due to commence, Shadow and his troops were waiting for the order to reinforce the front line. Shadow had predicted that they would receive that order, a trooper rushed in and whispered in Shadow's ear. Shadow nodded, and got up from his seat.

"C'mon, boys! We're needed now! The defenders were stronger in numbers than we anticipated!"

The entire room seems to move at once, all rushing for the weapons rack, then outside, and for Trottingham. Two hundred men move fluently for the outskirts of the city on the edge of Mainland Equestria's territory, armed to the teeth, and well supplied with ammunition.

When Shadow had reached the clearing, he saw a grave sight. It appeared like a new weapon, many rockets fired from a distant bunker, smashing the line with explosions, and a bright flash that seemed to light up the night for a mile, flames killing all who were exposed above the trench, as it hit a few feet from the opening of the trench.

Shadow was stunned that there was a weapon like this, but shook off his shock and slid into the trench. There were many sandbag lines between the two trenches that the Lunar attacking force would have to take, most of which were occupied by Solar troops.

The sandbag lines themselves were just tall enough to cover a crouching person, and wide enough to hold two. There was about a two to three foot space between each line of sandbags, each of which were four or five feet long.

The weapon had enough firepower to eliminate an entire line of sandbags, and utterly destroy any whom were unfortunate enough to be nearby.

Regarding these weapons, Shadow called out, "Keep moving! Don't stay still longer than necessary and try to predict where the rockets will land! If we can get a team to those bunkers, we will be able to turn their weapons against them!"

As if to obey his own orders, Shadow leaped up to the first line of sandbags, and eliminating two or three Solar Legionnaires at a time, before leaping over his line of sandbags or moving down the line. Shadow continued this in company of his squad. The three seemed to alternate who was with Shadow, although that was by coincidence. Eventually, Shadow had the entirety of the siege force up close to the Solar trench, too close for the rocket weapons to be able to target the Lunar attackers without possibly harming their own.

Shadow was satisfied he could now stay in one spot without worrying about artillery attacks on his position. The captain picked off the entrenched soldiers one by one, hoping that the higher (even if just barely so) ground would minimize his troop's casualties. He still had an entire city to conquer!

Eventually, Shadow was ready to take a chance. He drew the officer's saber that was hanging in a sheath on the right side of his waist. The blade was about two feet long, about four inches wide and had a distinguished curve about three-quarters of the way up the blade. The steel blade was nearly one-sixteenths of an inch thick, and had an ornate pattern around an inscription that read, _"_ _Lamina Nocte, Quia Res Novae Luna_ _"._

Shadow, with said sword drawn, launched at the closest Solar Legionnaire he found, surprise-attacking the soldier by stabbing him through the head, an instant kill. Taking the blade out of the body, Shadow parries an oncoming blade, blocking its owner's attack and kicking the soldier in the stomache, before slitting his throat. The neck attacker attempted to stab Shadow in the back while he was finishing the last one off. Shadow only had enough time to whirl around and see the assailant before his life would have definitely ended.

Suddenly, a private had sliced the head of the Legionnaire off, kicking the headless man to the side. "Hey, thanks!" Shadow calls out over the explosions, gunfire, and now steel clashing with steel. "It was nothing!" Calls back the soldier, Shadow recognizing him as Bookmark, the private that had shown him the general's tent back in camp.

More and more joined the close-quarters-combat, mostly to avoid gunning down the increasing numbers of Lunar Troops attacking the Legionnaires in melee, inspired by Shadow's charge.

The suddenly overwhelming numbers up close were too much for the Solar Legion, and whoever escaped the battle for the trench either fled to the city or was shot down. After neutralizing the trench, Shadow and his company of troops celebrated briefly, then steeled themselves for the battle for the city.

They would receive no reinforcements, as at the same time, the city of Las Pegasus was under attack by Lunar forces, which was the Republic's top priority right now. The other Lunar armies were busy with either taking minor cities dotted on the island, or taking their own part of the city. The attack was to take place all at once, on every side of the city. The attackers would not even see each other until they had rendezvoused at the centre of the city.

 **A/N**

 _Sorry this took so long, lots of life came up, and also loss of motivation to write. I hope to get the next chapter out quicker next time!_

 _Anyways, I have an Equestria Amino! Check it out, profile name: Shadow Fire._

 _Thanks for sticking around and reading, and thanks to Patrick217 for his OC, Bookmark!_


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